In Beijing trip, European leaders’ unity on China will be put to the test
- French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday
- They will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Macron, hoping to firm economic ties, is less hawkish than von der Leyen
It has been billed as a display of European unity.
But when French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen touch down in Beijing on Wednesday, many will be looking for signs of just how far apart they are on China policy.
Macron invited von der Leyen to show that they come “not as disunited states, but as bearers of a European position”, according to a senior French government official.
In the run-up to the visit, however, the commission president took her place among the continent’s toughest talkers on China. Her speech in Brussels last week was seen as an attempt to bolster the European Union’s approach both politically and economically.
By contrast, Macron has enjoyed warm ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping through the years. On his last state visit to Beijing in 2018, he gave Xi an eight-year-old gelding named Vesuvius, one of the very top picks from the presidential cavalry corps.
The Frenchman bristles at the idea of taking a hardline approach akin to the United States’ policy. The strongest proponent of a sovereign European Union, Macron sees a three-day state visit as a chance to reestablish France and Europe as a “third way” somewhere between the US and China.